Sunday, March 17, 2013

Run to the Pub Half Marathon Recap

We left our house at 5 am which was no big deal because I had been wide awake for 2 hours already by then.  I hate when I can't sleep!  We picked up my sister and her husband and headed out.  Bozeman is about a 2.5 hour drive from my house, so not too bad a drive.

We got up there in plenty of time to pickup our race packets and were left with an hour of waiting to catch the buses out to the start.  I got my husband lined up with a good place along the route to cheer us on from and then the boys took off to do their own thing for awhile.

It was a little chilly at the start and I had a hard time deciding if I should take my long sleeve shirt off or not, I was cold so I left it on.  I hate being cold..of course I hate being hot too so I should have just taken it off.

Finally it was go time!

The first three miles were uphill, not in a hard horrid way, just a slight sloping way.  I kept these three miles pretty steady and was feeling pretty good.  Of course about mile 2  I started getting hot and was regretting wearing my long sleeve pullover, so I took it off and tied it around my waist, which is also annoying but at least I felt cooler.

After mile 3, the road started sloping down slightly and felt pretty good.  My pace picked up a bit and I felt really good. 

I saw my husband and brother in law around mile 6.5 ish? and gave my husband my coat.  It was a great mental boost to see him.  He doesn't normally come to my races.

Somewhere at the start of the 8th mile Kiley caught up to me and we ran together for awhile.  I was starting to feel tired at this point.  I don't know if the higher altitude was getting to me a little but it felt harder to breathe.  Probably just not in the kind of shape to maintain a sub 7:30 pace... anyhoo, we ran togehter for about a mile and a half ish and then she was off and making it look easy!


At this point there were also a lot of 10k runners on the road and I had to do a lot of dodging and weaving.  I had it in my head that after the end of mile 8 and the start of mile 9 there were no more hills.  WRONG... so wrong. The last hill didn't end until the end of mile 10.

That last hill kicked my butt, my quads felt spent after that.
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Thankfully after that it was all downhill, but my legs were pooped!  I had really hoped for a sub 1:40 finish and was on track for it until the last couple miles.  I did't quite pull it off.

My unofficial Garmin time was 1:40:16... so close! Officail time was 1:40:18 so I was close.  That makes it my 2nd fastest half marathon  and yes I am happy with that.  Came to about a 7:38 pace.

Here are my splits.

I also find it motivating... clearly I need to be doing more speed work! I felt like I pretty much left it all out there yesterday.  My legs are feeling a little sore today.  I have some yoga plans and maybe a walk to loosen up a little.

I found the race very well organized.  Packet pickup was quick and easy. The buses were lined up ready to go on time. There seemed like there were quite a few water stops along the way.  I carry my own though so I didn't pay too much attention to it.

We got a long sleeve tech shirt and a pint glass. 

 Although it seemed like there weren't a lot of portapotties I never had to wait in line more than 5 minutes to use one.

The course is beautiful with great views of the Gallatin valley and the mountains in the distance. 

There was a free beer waiting at the end and the finisher medals were bottle openers. Post race food was water, oranges and bananas. Pretty simple, but enough for me.  Oranges post race are my favorite.  They also had some food vendors there and after I had my free Guiness I ate a HUGE burrito that left me stuffed for the rest of the day.

The worst part was running into the huge mass of 10k racers and having to weave through them at the end of the race when I was getting tired. or maybe the worst part was that I did not win one of the four trips to Dublin that were given away.

My little sister had been having some back problems and just wanted to come in under 2 hours.  She ran it in 1:52 ish so she did great!

Blogger fail, I had my camera charged up, but then left the memory card at home!  My sister and her husband did get some pictures so I will have them send me some and hopefully have some to share!

I ended up 109 overall and 13th in my age group.

So half number 5 is in the books!


32 comments:

  1. You are so incredibly speedy and amazing!!!!

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  2. That is so fast!! Congrats on such a speedy race!

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  3. Congratulations!!!!!! Your splits are very consistent. I bet that your next half marathon you will run well under a 1:40. You should think about coming to Spokane in May for Windermere. Super flat course, even for the half. You could stay at our house!

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  4. Congratulations to you and your sis! You're both very speedy

    I couldn't be further from the mentality of "it's only 2.5 hours away, not too bad." If I were ever to do a race outside of the city more than 50 minutes away, I'd probably get a hotel :) (but I am also fortunate to walk to the start of many races here) Just an entirely different area of the country and way of life.
    So happy your hubby was there to cheer you on- it is such a mood lifter to see our biggest supporters out there for us :)

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  5. You did a great job! CONGRATS!! The race sounds like it was very nice and organized, although I would not have enjoyed weaving in and out of 10K runners at the end!

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  6. omg you were so close- you'll get there! I didn't realize this was only your 5th half... even more impressive time.

    No fun photos of your outfit??

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  7. Nice work, Christy!!

    WOW those hills are no joke, I'm super impressed with how fast you were!!

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  8. Congratulations on a great finish. So close to your 1:40 goal and quite awesome. That elevation change is daunting. Love the name of the race and the them and the bling! Can't wait to see some pics. Enjoy your recovery, Speedy Girl!

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  9. Sounds like an awesome race and a great finish. You were so close but still finished awesomely strong!

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  10. Congratulations on a great race! Hilly courses are no joke and you were super speedy on those hills!

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  11. Awesome job! Sounds like a fun, festive race!!

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  12. Great time! And I love races where you get a free beer at the end!

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  13. Well done! That's a really good time especially for a hilly course, therefore those 16 seconds don't count! Can't wait to see pics!

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  14. You are so speedy! Awesome job on the race!

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  15. Congrats! So close to your goal and it does look quite hilly!

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  16. dang. you rocked it even with little ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


    MizFit

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  17. Wow! That is one tough course! I am sure you will get your sub 1:40 on a flat (or easier) course... great splits for all those climbs, you stayed really consistent!

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  18. congrats girl! your splits are pretty stellar! in my opinion, downhill races are so much more difficult than uphills. you need to run with so much control and your stride is usually shorter, it just doesn't feel natural. sounds like that sub 1:40 is well within your reach! enjoy that yoga class, feeling like i could use one myself here!

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  19. You did AWESOME Christy! So proud of you!!!! Very cool that hubs could be there too.

    Sarah
    www.thinfluenced.com

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  20. That was a fun race! My calves are the only thing sore on me, which is weird because they are usually never sore. I was really expecting my quads and hamstrings to be dead, but they feel surprisingly good today. I love that you can track your splits. I can't believe how fast that mile 8-9 was, we pushed that one and you could totally tell the next couple miles were uphill! Thanks for running with me. We'll totally have to do it again!

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  21. You are a speed demon! Fantastic job! You will get that goal soon!

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  22. Dang. Freaking rockstar pace! Great job.

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  23. You are amazing - that is a great time! Congrats - those are some serious hills!!

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  24. Little sleep and hills?!?! You killed it!!
    Great job!

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  25. Good grief you're speedy! Congrats on a great race!

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  26. Wow great time and pace! Congratulations!

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  27. Congratulations on such a speedy half! It sounds like the swag for the race was pretty nice.

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  28. Congrats on your race and the placement!! That's quite the elevation map . ha!

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  29. 2.5 hr drive the morning of? Good onya! My pal Calli and I drove quite a ways. Calli drove 3 hours to me, then another 8 hours. It was my FIRST American race. I was stoked you guys had such amazing weather. Seriously it was a lot warmer in Bozeman than in Calgary (they had a blizard for the st pats race here - lol). So wanna come back and kill it next year. I was off my time, but had some minor internal surgery in Jan and couldn't run for almost 3 weeks, so i didn't do too bad. It was a great race, beautiful town.

    Next time we will have to have a tweet up/blogger meeting!

    xx tina

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